CoPilot is my Co-designer

I took a picture of my front entry with two new black flower pots. I wanted help deciding what type of artificial plant to put there.

Before:

I told CoPilot what type of plants I wanted and voila! Boxwoods, hydrangeas, and cedar topiaries:

Living Room Decor

Chris and I are slowly changing out some of our old furniture and decor for new. I found a coffee table that we both liked and a living room accent chair that I was more enthusiastic about than Chris.

There was definitely an order to putting together the table. The instructions weren't that clear. I had to undo some of my work and start again. But, I think it looks great. 

I was trying to figure out what to do to decorate it and as I looked at a few pictures online, I realized I already had what I needed with a plant, a place mat, a tray, and some wooden dice that my dad made for me.

The coffee table arrived on March 23 and the chair on the 29th. I love how the living room is coming together.

The chair is one of the easiest things I put together, and the instructions had to be the best. 

I removed the chair from the box.

Removed the feet.

Screwed the feet on.

And voila! Done.

And... it swivels.

New Living Room Accent Chair

I have been searching for an accent chair that would be the right scale and color for our living room and the furniture currently there. This one caught my eye on Instagram, being promoted by an influencer who loved it. 

It took a couple of weeks to arrive. Fortunately, it was a weekend morning when Chris was home and he was able to help the delivery guy lift it into the house.

The unboxing and unpacking was easy. These were the best and easiest instructions for putting together a piece of furniture.

Basically, just add screw on legs and voila! Done.

Allergy Testing for Kristen

Kristen finally had her appointment for allergy testing. It was on Friday afternoon. Amy got off work early and went with Kristen.

The nurse did an allergen test for environmental factors.

Initial reaction:

15 minutes later:

I don't think there was anything significant besides some weeds. The allergist wasn't really definitive. Next step? Not sure. The allergist recommended an ENT perhaps.

Amy & Kristen Sister Date

It is fun for both Amy and Kristen to live so close together. Pretty sure it is a time in their life that won't last forever as relationships and weddings happen, but I am glad they get this chance to build a stronger friendship together.

I am glad that we have a family where we share our shenanigans and pictures. It would be hard to maintain a family blog otherwise. 

They got pedicures together. Can you tell which feet belong to which daughter?

Later, they enjoyed dinner at Texas Roadhouse, always a favorite for my girls.

Chris Cleaning at Work

To say that Chris' new place is a bit of a dump is truth. The roof leaks, the walls have holes in them, and the kitchen has not been taken care of.

Chris got tired of it and took cleaners and scrub brushes to work on Wednesday to do something about it. It didn't say anything about "you should do better" or "this place is a mess" to any of the staff that work there. Just quietly worked away in the kitchen as some people happened to come and notice.

This is the before pic of the sink in the kitchen (apparently it is also used for cleaning brushes and other things).

After. Still not perfect, but so much better.

He left this sign in the kitchen.

The owner of Pivot Door Company (Curtis) is planning to build a new building on the land next to this building. It can't come soon enough for Chris' liking. Apparently the new building is in permitting stages.

Lindon Temple Open House

Brad invited Amy and Kristen to go with him to the Lindon Temple open house. It is a stunning temple.

Kristen went with her roommate Ana on Monday as well—and loved it both times!

Brad was kind enough to take and share pictures.

It will be exciting when we can have our own Colorado Springs open house.

Genealogy Breakthrough with AI

On Sunday, Chris had Claude (an AI) help him try to break through a family history road block that has held up family research for over 20 years.

From Chris in his texts to the girls: 

"We are Bohemian. As in Rhapsody. Prague would be the modern day capital of where my oldest known Klein ancestor is from. Ultimately it seems his son Leopold came to America to escape Jewish restrictions. 

"Claude gave me some good history on it I can share. I was blocked at Abraham for years. But with Claude "we" figured out his name, wife, and children.

"What We Know About Abraham (Avraham) Tzvi Hirsch Klein Identity     

•    Full name: Abraham Tzvi Hirsch Klein

•    Hebrew name: אברהם צבי הירש (Avraham Tzvi Hirsh)

•    Tzvi Hirsch was his sacred/communal name — "Tzvi" (Hebrew) and "Hirsch" (Yiddish) both mean stag/deer. Abraham was his civil name used in official Austrian records. Life

•    Born: approximately 1820-1821, likely in Moravia (exact town unconfirmed) •    Died: March 27, 1880, Vienna, Austria — cause: Magenentzündung (stomach inflammation), age ~59

•    Buried: Vienna Jewish community cemetery, March 30, 1880

•    Occupation: Großhändler/Kaufmann (wholesale merchant) 

Family

•    Wife #1: Rosalie née Weingraf (also recorded as Joachim — likely her mother's name)

•    Wife #2: Franziska Schick (married after Rosalie's death, likely early 1850s)    

Known children:

◦    Leopold (Arieh Leib) — born November 1847, emigrated to Toledo, Ohio 1880 ◦    Wilhelm — born 1852, Vienna     

◦    Max — born 1854, Groß Meseritsch, Moravia

◦    Eduard — born October 20, 1854, Vienna 

"The American Connection 

Leopold emigrated to America in October 1880 — just seven months after Abraham died. He settled in Toledo, Ohio as a tailor, and in a clear act of memorial named his firstborn American son Abe Klein (Abraham) after his father, consistent with Ashkenazi Jewish tradition of naming children after deceased relatives. 

"What We're Still Researching

•    Abraham's exact birthplace and his own parents' names     

•    Whether Rosalie and Franziska were sequential wives or belong to two different Abraham Kleins     

•    Confirmation that the Vienna 1880 death record is definitively our Abraham vs another man of the same name 

"Research conducted March 22, 2026 using Vienna Jewish community records (Matriken der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde, 1784-1938), US passport applications, and US Census records. 

"Back in Bohemia in the 1800’s Jew’s had to be registered and only a certain number could register. If you didn’t register you couldn’t marry, get a job etc. 

"'Kleins' were registered but only the oldest son could get it passed down, so lots of reasons to move on. Looks like the family went from Bohemia (Czeckia today) to Hungary to Austria where Abraham died, then Leopold moved to USA shortly after. 

"Makes having gone to Austria and Prague together (Chris texting his girls) more special now that we know we are actually from there, not just sort of. Regardless, Claude helped me read German handwriting and Hebrew headstones. I’m happy to have broken through the barrier of who Abraham was. Now there’s lots more we can do."

Chris shared this information with Kevin who was simply overcome with joy. 

An Early WakeUp Call

Kristen had a shuttle from the Monument park and ride at 6:15 am on Sunday morning. Chris got up to take her. I got up to say goodbye, but I don't think either of us really went back to sleep once he returned home.

Kristen was back in SLC by 10:30 am!

Kristen's Spring Day Weekend

After returning home and cleaning up a bit from our hike in Cheesman Canyon, we decided to surprise Kristen with a birthday dinner at Il Vicinio in Colorado Springs. 

We also made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby. Chris is never too excited to visit Hobby Lobby. I realized as he started adding decor to the cart that he had an ulterior motive in wanting to visit. He purchased some decor for his new office.

Misha had never been to Scheels before and Kristen was in need of some new shoes. We stopped and luckily I found a pair of shoes that were supposedly in the clearance area. They were still $100. However, it was a win since she said they were "comfy and cute." Happy birthday to her!

I rarely suggest things that my girls like!

Hiking Cheesman Canyon Trail

Chris, Misha, Kristen, and I tried to get out of the house by 9 for the hour and a half drive to the Cheesman Canyon Trail. We drove through Colorado Springs and up the canyon to Woodland Park. 

We ordered sandwiches from Jimmy Johns in Woodland Park and stopped to pick them up. 

The trailhead was packed and overflowing with creative parkers. Though we waited around a bit, we eventually drove about a half mile further up the road to a pull-off on the side of the road.

We got started on the hike about 10:50 am. It was already pretty warm. Crazy for the middle of March. I think our highs were in the mid-80s.

There were so many people fishing in the river all along our hike. We hiked about two miles. Kristen's shoes were definitely not hiking shoes and she was slipped on the loose scree on the granite rocks. I have fallen on those small rocks before, so I wasn't enjoying the last part of the hike myself.

We decided to stop by a big boulder and have lunch. The sun was beaming down.

By the end of our hike, we had gone about 5.5 miles (including the extra 8/10s of a mile to where the Pilot was parked). 

We drove home via Castle Rock.

Shed

Chris' new shed was installed on Friday. We had to get it approved by the HOA and had an area cleared by our landscapers for it to sit in kind of hidden in the trees.

I tried to encourage Chris to get the bigger size when we bought it, but he settled on the 10x10. I have already heard a couple of times that he wished he bought the 10x12.

Yesterday, he started putting some yard and garden tools in there. It should house the lawn mowers as well.

BYU Spring Day

Instead of a weeklong spring break, BYU splurged and gave the students a Spring Day. That was Friday, March 19th. Kristen was able to get a quick flight home on Frontier for not too much money. Of course, she was only able to bring a backpack with her.

The first night she asked if I had toothpaste, toothbrush, and face cleaner.

She arrived on Thursday afternoon and took the train into Denver. She waited at a small coffee shop downtown for Misha to pick her up after her work.

From there, Misha and Kristen drove down to Monument. They stopped along the way and picked up some BeauJo's pizza.

On Friday, Chris went to work. I had to stick around for a bit to wait for the shed guy to arrive. Once he was here though, he didn't really need me to be here.

The girls and I went to King Soopers to get groceries and then they enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather and hung out on the deck.

Chris invited us to check out his office. It was cool to see (and smell the wood smell) of the shop. We met some of his co-workers before leaving for the day.

We stopped at Costco before returning back home.

Kristen Studying

Kristen has been enjoying the sunshine and spring-like temps. She says it even motivates her to study. Whatever works right?

No doubt we are having an early spring there and in Colorado and it is lovely, but I do pray for rain.

 

Landscape Plan

I have been working with CoPilot to come up with a landscape plan. We will be planting trees and such in a few weeks. CoPilot aka Charlie, is helping me with trees, shrubs, bushes, decorative grasses, perennial flowers and annuals. And not only only telling me which type of plant will work best in Monument, be deer resistant, tolerate the climate, and require minimal time to care for them.

This is my landscape plan that I am working with.

Whole House Humidifier

Chris has undertaken the project of installing a whole-house humidifier. He has used AI (artificial intelligence and two friends to give some guidance for the project. One friend is an electrician and the other is an HVAC guy.

It took him a couple of weeks from start to finish, but he was able to successfully complete the install yesterday. He is now working on integrating the humidifier and other house systems into Home Assist which automates the functioning of the HVAC, humidifier, blinds, appliances, robovac, etc. AI has been a huge help giving help and answers in seconds that would have taken hours for Chris to research on his own.

Updating Furniture

Chris and I are slowly updating the look of our house. We purchased our new dining table back in February and sold our old dining table a few days later (Feb 23) to a guy who has a rental house in Kansas and is getting it ready to be a vacation rental.

Chris was even kind enough to use our trailer to deliver the table to the guy's house since it was on his way to work.

We purchased new stools for the bar height counter in the dining room. They had to have a small enough footprint that they wouldn't impact the walkway in the dining room.

The seats are a little firm, but Chris and I like that we have a good view of the tv while we eat dinner.

I also purchased a dining table plus a new accent chair for the living room. The blue accent chairs that we purchased back in December were just too "beach house" looking and didn't match our style.

A guy bought the blue chairs on Friday evening (March 13) and new furniture should be delivered in a week or so.

I asked our house designer, Jennifer, if she had any suggestions. She brought over a pouf (padded stool) in a color that we both thought would look good with the decor of our house.

I tried to find a chair in this color, but couldn't. Most of the color for this season is more of an orangey brown leather or fake leather.

I even used CoPilot to help me figure out what would look good in the living room as an accent chair. I posted this picture of our current set up.

He recommended this with an accent chair that swivels:

I found a chair that is somewhat similar. I'll post pictures once it arrives. Jennifer and I both convinced Chris that an accent table would look good too.